Power-assisted doors on vehicles are used to allow a user to open or close doors that may be difficult to control due to their size and weight. For example, military vehicles such as High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs, or “Hummvees”) are often provided with added armor that adds sufficient weight to the door to make it difficult to open and close without power-assistance. Power-assisted door systems use electric motors and mechanical assemblies to generate a controlled force to assist the user with the heavy doors.
The use of power-assisted door systems has complicated the delivery of power from the vehicle to the door of the vehicle. Power cables are typically used to deliver power from the vehicle to the door. Power cables may get caught between the door and vehicle frame. Repeated opening and closing of the vehicle door may result in significant wear and tear on the power cables as the cables are bent, stretched, twisted, pinched and otherwise battered during the movement of the door.
Contactless energy delivery systems have been developed to deliver power to a powered vehicle door. However, conventional contactless systems only deliver energy when the vehicle door is adjacent to the frame of the vehicle, which occurs when the door is in the closed position. Power delivery systems have not been able to provide power-assisted doors with continuous power delivery during the opening and closing of the doors.
There is a need for a contactless power delivery system that provides continuous power delivery during opening and closing of a door.